WiPC 2009 Resolution: Guinea

The Assembly of Delegates of International PEN, meeting at its 75th International Congress in Linz, Austria, from 19-25 October 2009:

Appalled by the massacre of more than 150 people by Guinean armed forces on 28 September 2009 at a football stadium at which over 50,000 people had gathered to protest the decision of Capt. Mousa Dadis Camara to run for president at the elections in 2010;

Shocked that soldiers shot at and bayoneted men and women, with over 1,000 suffering gunshot wounds and other injuries;

Revolted at reports that women were publicly raped, and in at least one case, subsequently murdered, and that those who came to their aid were themselves attacked and killed;

Horrified by the fact that journalists who attempted to report on the massacre were beaten and threatened with death, leading some to go into hiding in fear for their lives. Two have claimed that they were forced at gunpoint to say they would not report what they had seen;

Protests that numerous demonstrators and journalists arrested for their involvement in the protest are held without trial;

Welcomes the United Nations Secretary General's initiation of an international commission of enquiry to investigate the massacres, as well as the arms embargo against Guinea initiated by the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS), the European Union's indications that it will also take strong action as well as other international protests;

Calls for those responsible for the killings to be brought to justice, thus ending the impunity which those who carry out those crimes enjoy;

Further calls for all those held solely because of their peaceful involvement in the protests or who attempted to report on the events be released.